Polybius: the First Punic War

According to
the Greek historian Polybius
of Megalopolis (c.200-c.118), the First
Punic War (264-241) between Carthage
and Rome was "the longest and most severely contested war in history".
And indeed, it lasted almost a quarter of a century and probably, a million
people lost their lives. In the end, Rome had conquered the island of Sicily,
and had become a Mediterranean superpower.

Book 1, chapter 17

[263 BCE] When the terms of the treaty were
referred to Rome, and when the people had accepted and ratified this agreement
with Hiero, the Romans decided not to continue to employ all their forces
in the expedition, but only two legions, thinking on the one hand that,
now the king had joined them, the war had become a lighter task and calculating
that their forces would be better off for supplies.

The Carthaginians,
on the contrary, when they saw that Hiero had become their enemy, and that
the Romans were becoming more deeply involved in the enterprise in Sicily,
considered that they themselves required stronger forces in order to be
able to confront their enemies and control Sicilian affairs. They therefore
enlisted foreign mercenaries from the opposite coasts, many of them Ligurians,
Celts, and still more Iberians, and dispatched them all to Sicily. Perceiving
that the city of Acragas had the greatest natural advantages for making
their preparations, it being also the most important city in their province,
they collected their troops and supplies there and decided to use it as
a base in the war.

Meanwhile the Roman consuls
who had made the treaty with Hiero had left, [262
BCE] and their successors, Lucius Postumius [Megellus] and Quintus
Mamilius [Vitulus], had arrived in Sicily with their legions. On taking
note of the plan of the Carthaginians, and their activity at Acragas, they
decided on a bolder initiative. Abandoning therefore other operations they
brought all their forces to bear on Acragas itself, and encamping at a
distance of 1400 meters from the city, shut the Carthaginians up within
the walls.

It was the height of the harvest, and as a long siege was foreseen,
the soldiers began gathering grain with more venturesomeness than was advisable.
The Carthaginians, observing that the enemy were dispersed about the country,
made a sortie and attacked the foragers. Having easily put these to flight,
some of them pressed on to plunder the fortified camp while others advanced
on the covering force.

But on this occasion and often on previous ones it is the excellence
of their institutions which has saved the situation for the Romans; for
with them death is the penalty incurred by a man who deserts the post or
takes flight in any way from such a supporting force. Therefore on this
occasion as on others they gallantly faced opposites who largely outnumbered
them, and, though they suffered heavy loss, killed still more of the enemy.
Finally surrounding them as they were on the point of tearing up the palisade,
they dispatched some on the spot and pressing hard on the rest pursued
them with slaughter to the city.